Cladistics and stuff

Ralph,
I'm just glad to have discovered someone like Peter Dodson, who
combines scientific rigor and commonsense in a way that I find very
appealing. He seems more critical of cladistic "analysis" than I am, but I
certainly understand his concerns.
On the other hand, I avoid quoting members of the ABSRD camp (even on
matters we might agree upon), just to avoid possible "guilt by association".
Nevertheless, nothing would please me more than if they were partially
right and it turned out that birds evolved from some non-coelurosaurian
theropod**, and that both sides had to "eat some crow".
----- Cheers, Ken
** I realize that such a group is impossible by cladistic definition, but
what I am saying is that if Coelurosauria turned out to be a
heterodefinitional synonym of a much more inclusive group (like Tetanurae),
it would show that neither side had a claim on the whole truth.
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